Assisi on the way to Tuscany

Well, a bit of change in plans! We arrived to the encuentro near Ancona and went to the first milonga. Let’s just say it was extremely uninspiring, bordering on unpleasant. The place was in a very rundown camp-like bungalows, with paper thin walls. The level of dancers was very mediocre and the real deal breaker was concrete cement floor, so very challenging to dance on. Considering that we were coming from Slovenia with the fairytale ballroom and magical dancers, the perspective of spending 3 more days with 6 milongas was out of the questions. Luckily, we were in the middle of Italy with the car. So we consulted VoiceMap and Rick Steves and decided to spend the long weekend in Tuscany instead. On the way, we stopped at Assisi because there was Rick Steves tour there. And it was really fascinating! Apparently Assisi is the hometown of St Francis, the saint who grew up in a rich family but at the age of 18, declined all the earthly possessions and became a hermit, preaching poverty, chastity and obedience. Franciscans even today are quite a big Christian denomination and after Saint Francis San Francisco was named! In Assisi there is a giant and gorgeous two level cathedral dedicated to him. Also St Francis preached being closer to nature, and often talked to the birds (as depicted in frescoes) - Igor promptly reminded me that he talked to birds too on one occasion in New Zealand! We really loved the tour and the city. We then drove to Siena where I had a nice dinner in one of the trattorias and marveled at the famous Siena square, lit by the full moon.Read more